Sunday, April 22, 2007

Not Ready to Make Nice

The other day, I told a friend that Bush was right about one thing: democracy could help eradicate the problem of fundamentalism in the Middle East. The problem was that the Bush administration was so steadfast in its conviction that it ignored the lessons of history and the associated needs/wants/desire of culture and religion; the result is a cauldron of simmering tensions and rage that no amount of democracy or capitalism can cure.

We make the mistake so many times of believing that what worked for America is what will work for everyone else or that people even want an America of their own. We believe so strongly that the way we do things here is the way things ought to be done. And when people disagree with us, we call them names and boycott their products. It's 2007, and we still haven't learned how to play nice.

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Music, post #2

Anyone who knows me knows I love love love Hindi film songs. Recently, I got to see the movie, Abhimaan, which has one of my all-time favorite sound tracks (you can hear it here). When I was a kid, I wanted the soundtrack to Abhimaan played over and over again, almost to the exclusion of any other music (I'm surprised it wasn't banned after a while). It was so nice to listen to it again during the movie and realize that the songs have not lost any of their magic; in fact, listening again made me decide to replace the old very worn out but still steadfast tape with a CD.

My all time favorite song though is 'Kahbi Kabhi', which you can listen to here. I think it's Lata Mangeshkar at her most perfect :-)

Sunday, April 08, 2007

This is post #1,964

I'm an extreme saver. Other people indulge in sports like helicoptering up the side of a mountain and then skiing down in an avalanche, me, I like to save money. I like to come up with creative ways to do it, and I have this thing, that if I add an expense somewhere, I have to come up with a way to cut the expense somewhere else. It's amazing sometimes where I find the pennies and how those pennies add up. You can call it the 'latte factor', though some people discount the effect of a daily Starbucks purchase on your wallet (and waistline). This year, I wanted to find a way to save an additional $50/month to offset a $50/month expense, for a total of $600. Here's how I did it:

* Raise deductible on my car insurance to $1,000: $100/year* 10 percent off on my cell phone by signing a new contract: $72/year* Eating lunch out only once or twice a week instead of 4-5 times a week: $864/year (at $6/lunch)

My other favorite cost-savings measures include:

* Videos from the library instead of Blockbuster: $72/year* Basic cable provided by the apartment: $420* Keeping car trips to a minimum to save on gas: $240/year

I also have been buying some canned veggies lately instead of fresh and those are cheaper. But that's not necessarily because I'm cheap, but more because it's sometimes hard for me to consume all of my fresh produce quick enough before it goes bad. So for certain items -- mushrooms, olives, green beans, corn -- I'll buy canned. Nothing beats fresh tomatoes though.